Kilte-Awlaelo Schools Development Association held its 10th anniversary on June 19, 2013 in the fabulous city of Las Vegas. As always, the event had two parts which one was the members meeting during the day time and the second one was the fund-raising event during the night. The volume of the participant on both parts of the event was very high. Awlaelo members from all corners of the nation attended the event. A special guest also joined us from Adi. Our brother Haji Adem Bidar was one of the participants in the event.
It was also joyful to see that the event was not only celebrated by Awlaelowyans but also by other areas of Tigrian brothers and sisters. I do not mean the tigrean brothers and sisters who reside in the Las Vegas area. I meant the tigrean brothers and sisters who flew from other states just to attend the Awlaelo event. I really appreciate these brothers and sisters not only for attending the awlaelo event but also for the way they think. These brothers and sisters think beyond one area school, association, or locality. They think that whatever we named our Associations, the benefit is for all Tigrians and with that thinking in their minds, they attended the Awlaelo event. We are very thankful for those brothers and sisters.
During the annual members meeting, the general assembly discussed many important points and passed the following decisions:
- After the general assembly expressed its dissatisfaction with how the schools or local authorities in Adi handling the materials sent to the schools and the library built by the Association, it decided to write a formal letter to all authorities top to bottom from the regional government to the woreda administration to bring to the attention of all concern authorities the misuse and carelessness of the responsible parties in Adi.
- The general assembly decided that if any necessary correction is not made in the schools we support after we send the letters, then all financial and material support from our Association to Adi will stop and all KASDA projects in Adi will be canceled. However, if Adi makes the necessary corrections and our Association receives documented evidence that shows the correction, then our Association’s support to all schools of kilte-awlaelo will continue as usual.
- A decision was made to establish Awlaelo Youth Group here in the United States under our Association so that in the future we can pass this Association to our sons and daughters. This also creates a good environment for our kids to know each other.
- The general assembly also decided to establish Awlaelo Investment Group and elected six members to study the investment opportunities in Ethiopia or here in the United States. In this case, I just want to say that if any of you have any investment idea that can benefit our group, please forward it to the brothers who were elected to study the investment opportunities. These brothers are:
- Mulugeta Gebru
- Abraha Weldegebriel
- Atsbha Gebru
- Tewelde Girmay
- Gebre Meles
- Haileselassie Desta
- Finally, the general assembly concluded its meeting by deciding that next year’s KASDA reunion to be held in Seattle, WA.
The night’s event was fabulous. Everybody was looking good and enjoyed the food, drink, and the dance all night long. As you can see it from Tewelde’s report, the money raised on the night was also very delightful. Well, it was Vegas and the fun did not stop on the night at the event hall. It carried over to the next day which we had a nice barbecue at our brother Gebre’s house and after that again we had a night long fun at Axum Restaurant. In general, our 10th reunion was wonderful and I am looking forward to see this fun repeated next year in Seattle, WA.
Thank You,
Eshetu Berhe